Easter weekend

Well, the Easter weekend is almost over and I thought I'd share a few of the photos I've taken over the last couple of days, mostly of nature.

Where else to start but with eggs? Since Chickpea was small, I've hidden eggs around the house for her to find on Easter morning. Sometimes there was a treasure hunt with clues and sometimes just eggs to find. When I mentioned that there wouldn't be an egg hunt this year, her face fell. Well, what else could I do but hide some eggs and see her smile?

An egg of a different kind was uncovered while I was clearing winter debris in the back garden. This duck egg was nestled in a corner underneath a conifer hedge. Sadly, I think it had been abandoned.

And I think this one in the front garden has met a similar fate. The ducks have tried to rear young under this bush before but always end up abandoning them - I think it's just too noisy there and too handy for the local cats.

This white beauty more likely belongs to one of the Mute swans who have taken up temporary residence on the lake. At one point there were nine but one of the males is very territorial and has chased several away. He's pretty impressive to watch as he puffs himself up, hoists his wings in the air and stalks menacingly towards his rivals. They'll all be on their way soon though as they don't hang around for the summer.

This mallard will be hanging around though. It tickles me how they feed by sticking their bums in the air!

I don't know if ducks eat snails but I've been finding a lot of empty shells lately. The shells are actually quite beautiful when their occupants are not wreaking havoc on my plants.

It's the weather which is wreaking havoc at the moment but I did spot this cherry blossom defying the cold and bursting into flower.

And look at the splash of colour from this Lesser Celandine on a grassy bank nearby.

We had a couple of strolls over the weekend to enjoy the sunshine. Other activities included spring cleaning and car washing, crochet and quilting. We also went to the cinema to see 'The Host' which both of us enjoyed.

And today I went into Manchester to meet a couple of friends for lunch at Rosso. You can tell somewhere is a bit posh when they have mini-towels in the loos to dry your hands. I had the very reasonably priced 2-course lunch menu: grilled peppered mackerel, followed by pork cutlet stuffed with spinach and dolcelatte and wrapped in pancetta. Both were very tasty.

This was followed by a visit to the (slightly disappointing) William Blake 'Burning Bright' exhibition at the John Rylands Library.  Anyone else remember studying his 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' for English Lit A-Level?

And so the long weekend draws to a close and it's back to work tomorrow. Next time I hope to show you  the crochet or quilting or maybe even both! x